A slowdown led to a chain-reaction crash Friday morning on the 405 Freeway in North Hills. Kim Baldonado reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Friday Nov. 14, 2014.
One person was killed early Friday in a fiery chain-reaction crash that involved five vehicles on the 405 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley.
Three vehicles, two pickups and a car, burned in the 7:30 a.m. crash on the southbound side of the freeway in the North Hills area. One of the pickups overturned near the center divider.
The drivers of the vehicles involved in the crash had slowed for stopped traffic, according to an initial investigation. The crash occurred just south of the busy 118 and 405 freeway interchange.
"A chain-reaction collision occurred between the five vehicles," said Leland Tang, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol West Valley Traffic Division.
One of the pickup drivers, Jorge Nino, said he was taking his child to school when traffic came to a standstill. His truck burned in the crash, but he was able to remove his daughter from the vehicle.
One person was hospitalized, but details regarding the injured victim's condition were not immediately available.
The southbound 405 Freeway was closed as fire-rescue personnel responded to the location near Nordhoff Street. All lanes reopened early Friday afternoon.
